DEATH CARD FOR A COSSACK IN THE WEHRMACHT

A particularly uncommon Third Reich death card, 2 1/2" x 4", announcing the death of "Obergefreiten" ("corporal") Josef Roith, who served with a Russian Cossack unit in the Wehrmacht. His portrait shows him in a Cossack-style fur hat with Wehrmacht enlisted man's uniform, while his biographical information indicates that he was born in the Czech city of Weissensulz in 1906, and was killed in action in the Caucasus on October 8, 1942. The card also indicates that he was a recipient of the Eastern Front Medal and the Iron Cross, Second Class. Shows minor wear, else very good. Many Cossacks volunteered to join the Wehrmacht and SS immediately following the invasion of the Soviet Union, in large part due to the suppression of Cossack culture under Communist rule.